Sunday, May 3, 2009

I was reading this thing on the Huffington Post about how the Miss California pageant organization helped or encouraged or arranged or paid for Miss California to get breast implants before the Miss U.S.A. pageant. But the weird thing for me was that while the official being interviewed about the breast implants was defending the help to Miss California (“Oh, we are concerned with her overall self-esteem….”) he also listed off other things contestants do to get an edge, especially during the swimsuit competition.

The interviewer asked, pointedly, “Wouldn’t she have a better chance of winning if she were more proportioned?” That is, wouldn’t she have a better shot if she didn’t have implants?

To which the official replied: “Well of course she does. But there’s plenty of ways of getting to more proportion without doing breast implants.”

I want to leave aside how confusing this answer is for a second because the very next thing the official said really threw me for a loop.

“Many of the girls use chicken cutlets.”

I don’t understand why this is even an option in a beauty pageant. Why doesn’t anyone say anything? Are they really that much of a joke that women can stuff poultry down their tops and saunter onto the stage with a Hey, look at my perfectly proportioned totally-not-enhanced-by-poultry torso?

I mentioned this statement by the pageant official to Emily, and her reply was nowhere near as outraged as I was. In fact, she seemed to think it was funny that I cared at all that the pageant enforce some kind of standard.

“Where do you draw the line?” she asked. “Do you tell contestants they can’t dye their hair?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess…”

But, really? It sure seems like this is a clear case in which we should just say no. No to the chicken cutlets. No meat products allowed during a beauty pageant. No murdering helpless animals and stuffing them down bikini tops.

My favorite part of this whole Miss California/breast implant story is the fact that Shana Moakler, who is famous for being married Travis Barker, being on a reality show about said marriage and subsequently getting into a bitch fight with Paris Hilton after said marriage broke up, is often quoted as some sort of pageant official. Because if there's anyone out there more qualified to help guide these young women down the path toward scholarships and general do-goddyness it's her.

I was totally getting ready to correct you about the cutlets. Too bad Emily beat me to it. They do look like chicken cutlets, though.

Real chicken has been used for far creepier cosmetic purposes, though. For example, for centuries, women (and even some men) wore chicken skin gloves at night so that when they woke up in the morning, their hands would be soft, plump, and lily-white (cutting off the oxygen will do that). Gross. They were also sometimes made from other skins. I won't go into any more detail than that.

OMG, this made me lough out loud and I almost woke up Stella, who is taking a nap. I don't laugh because you didn't know, but rather because it is such a stupid name to give things, that I cannot help but cringe when I hear it, when laugh at the confusion it inevitably causes :-)

Never having had a need to use said inserts, I was right there with you... Imagining the drippy floppiness of a real boneless skinless chicken breast slapped up against the skin. Although, I bet real chicken would look just as realistic. So I totally bought it there for a minute.

These are the same women who put vaseline on their TEETH so they look shiny and their lips don't stick. Nasty much? If they'd do that, why not real chicken cutlets?

Every year I think this pageant has run it's course and will go away but somehow it keeps making major headlines like this year with outrageous comments made by the winner then follow up from Showbiz tonight asking "is the new Miss USA the next Sarah Palin?"

I only watch Showbiz because there is a guy in the office who insists on having it on. It is ridiculous.

and i really don't see what was wrong with miss california saying she was opposed to gay marriage. i'm all for gay marriage, but why all the hate for someone saying she's against it? is it because she's from california? she actually HAD a point of view.

lol. I think it has everything to do with the terminology. Could they not have thought of a better description? Like, Gel Enhancers? Calling them chicken cutlets is like calling red hair dye "cow's blood" because it happens to look like it.

What the hell?! Never heard of a chicken cutlet, unless it was in reference to a cooking lesson...And I was going to say that inserting poultry is probably not such a healthy thing anyway, with all those raw chicken germs and everything...